ZDHC South Asia Region Hosts Stakeholder Event In Dhaka
The ZDHC South Asia Region successfully conducted a landmark stakeholder event in Dhaka, drawing an overwhelming participation of 350 delegates. Centred around the theme “Building a culture of sustainable chemical management in the fashion industry,” the event highlighted the vital importance of sustainable practices in the textile and leather sectors.
The inaugural session featured distinguished speakers including Md. Amanur Rahman, President of BCDMEA, and Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman from HAMS Group.
Saket Kulkarni of ZDHC provided a comprehensive overview of ZDHC guidelines, while Prasad Pant elaborated on fostering a sustainable chemical management culture through the ZDHC RtZ programme.
A highlight of the event was a panel discussion on brand-led sustainability, with contributions from industry leaders such as AKM Foysal from H&M, Himadri Shekhar Sarker from M&S, and Yead Arefin from JC Penney. Moderated by Prasad Pant, the panel delved into strategies for embedding sustainable chemical management within supply chains.
Insights from the chemical manufacturing perspective were shared by Shivam Saraf of Apna Organics, Md. Amanur Rahman from Dysin, Ritesh Shinde of Jay Chemicals, and Karthikeyan KS from Proklean. Arindam Choudhuri of Fineotex highlighted practical examples of sustainable textile processing.
Regional team members Lydia Lin and Mariella Noto from ZDHC presented on the implementation of the ZDHC RtZ programme and the role of ZDHC Academy in building Chemical Management Systems (CMS).
The event also featured best practice sharing on chemical management from Imtiaz Udddin Topu of HAMS, Md. Omar Faruq of GIZ, and Md. Al Tauhidul Islam from Envoy, covering topics such as chemical storage, resource efficiency and the substitution of hazardous chemicals. Md. Wakil Hossain from TÜV Rheinland provided insights into the impacts of upcoming textile and apparel industry regulations.
Concluding the event, a dynamic panel discussion moderated by Prasad Pant featured Johny Yasmin Kanta from Hohenstein, Raffaella Santoro from TÜV SÜD, and Shameem Hossain from UL, focusing on how solution providers can enhance sustainable chemical management across the textile and leather value chain.
